All positional designations used in this document, such as “forward”, “top”, etc., are referenced to a weapon located in the normal firing position, in which the barrel is pointing in the generally horizontal direction away from the shooter. “Forward” is in the direction of shooting (i.e., away from the shooter). The “longitudinal side” of the weapon is the lateral surface of the weapon, bounded by the upper and lower surfaces and extending from front to rear.
Repeating small arms are known from DE 34 35 809 and DE 32 27 180. A prior art weapon is also known from the periodical “Deutsches Waffenjournal” (i.e., ‘German Weapons Journal’), January 2001, pages 8–16.
Breech locks of various types are provided in prior art repeating weapons and semi-automatic shooting weapons (semi-automatic weapons which are at firing readiness with the safety catch closed). The task of the breech lock of a multi-shot small arm such as, for example, an automatic pistol, is primarily to hold the safety catch open after the last shot in order to indicate to the shooter that no additional cartridges are present, and in order to shorten the subsequently following loading process.
In many cases, the mechanism that forms the breech lock is entirely accommodated within the interior of the weapon. Such is the case in the Walther pistols PP and PPK, for example. When the breech lock is so located, the shooter must, after the introduction of a loaded magazine or the like, grip the safety catch or the slide unit, draw it back slightly, and then let it loose. This operation takes place faster than normal reloading, which requires the complete removal of the safety catch over its entire range of reverse motion against the action of a closing spring.
If, when the weapon is unloaded, the safety catch held by the breech lock must be allowed forward, the magazine is first removed, and then the same activities as described above are to be carried out. If the safety catch is located in its forward position, then the magazine can be inserted again.
It is a safety feature that the safety catch of the unloaded pistol can only be closed when the magazine has been removed. The danger that an overlooked bullet located in the magazine will be loaded into the barrel is thereby avoided. The safety catch could, to be sure, be allowed forward without removing the magazine first, but since, in that case, the shooter would, in his view, have an empty magazine in the weapon, he will remove it from the weapon before closing the safety catch. Since accidents occur with inadvertently loaded weapons every year, this safety feature is of primary significance in cases where a shooter, upon carrying out maintenance on his weapon, may have ammunition within his grasp.
This danger is less in the case of military weapons since, at least during peacetime, the soldier has no ammunition available when cleaning the weapon.
Another, very widespread breech lock mechanism has a lever which is applied externally against the weapon and can be swiveled around a transverse axis. On the one hand, the lever engages with its end in the path of motion of the magazine feed mechanism and, on the other hand, in the path of motion of the safety catch, where it can drop down into a recess of the safety catch if this is opened and the magazine is empty. A handle is placed on the swivelable lever.
If, in such a weapon, a full magazine is introduced into a weapon in which the safety catch is held by the breech lock close to the position furthest to the rear, then it is sufficient to swivel the pivoting lever by applying pressure to its handle, so that it releases the safety catch and the safety catch moves forward. The loading process does not require the use of the second hand of the shooter in order to make the weapon ready to shoot again.
Even with the magazine empty, it is possible to press on the handle (against the fairly weak effect of the magazine spring) and to allow the safety catch to move forward without having removed the magazine. The behavior of the weapon is substantially the same, independent of whether the magazine is present or not.
The last-described breech lock is particularly common in Colt-Browning constructions (Colt M 1911, FN High Performance Browning, etc.) which are, at the present time, distributed in many modifications.
The Colt-Browning construction has a pivoting lever that is supported and positioned similarly to the lever (5) discussed below. The swiveling shaft of the Colt-Browning lever can serve at times as an anchoring unit for a locking element and must be removed for the disassembly of the weapon before the safety catch can be dismounted. As a rule, the closing spring serves as a catching spring for the attachment of the transverse shaft, although other solutions are also known, such as attachment by means of a steel clamp which resembles a bicycle chain lock, for example (Tokarew T. T., 1930 and 1933).
The sports shooter who only uses his weapon at the shooting stand has enough time for reloading. The breech lock of automatic sports pistols can thus, for reasons of safety, generally slide the safety catch forward again when the empty magazine is removed.
If automatic pistols are carried along by civilians or kept at hand for self-defense, only a single magazine is generally used. If this magazine is used until empty, then the shooter cannot reload any longer, because no additional magazine is available. In modern automatic pistols, moreover, the magazine capacity is increased considerably, insofar as legally permitted, so that a modern automatic pistol can load nearly a double quantity of bullets in comparison with an older pistol. The use of plastic in the construction of modern pistols compensates for the added weight of the larger quantity of bullets.
In a modern automatic pistol for civilian use, the possibility of a rapid reloading by applying pressure to the pivoting lever of the breech lock is now, on the whole, less necessary than ever before.
In addition, it is ever more common, in the case of civilian small arms, to design them for the use of both right-handed and left-handed shooters. Operating levers, such as a safety lever or a handle for detaching the magazine mounting device are, thus, frequently attached to both sides of the weapon.
Such solutions are also offered in military weapons but often remain unused there, however, because it is simpler to accustom a left-handed shooter to operating the weapon with his right hand than it is to carry out the training of right-handed and left-handed shooters, who use the other hand for the same operating processes, at the same time. The uniformity of movement of all soldiers, which is a decisive criterion for the trainer, is thus lost. Moreover, there are many small arms which, depending on the construction type, are designed either exclusively for right-handed shooters or exclusively for left-handed shooters. Such weapons cannot be used correctly by a person for whom they are not designed, and can even lead to injuries.
For the above reasons, in small arms, particularly those for military use and, most particularly, in automatic pistols of the Colt-Browning or a similar type, the handle for the breech lock is only attached to one side of the weapon, so that it can only be operated with the right hand of the shooter. This Colt-Browning construction has been known and extremely widespread for almost 90 years.